Keep Myrmecos Ad Free!

Spring arrives to the prairie garden

March came in like a lion. Then it became a grizzly bear, a shark, then, I think, a Tyrannosaur. Last week’s storm brought enough snow to close the University.

But today’s weather was a welcome change. Sunny with temps in the 60s, the last of the snow melted into the prairie garden. March has indeed gone out like a lamb.

So I dusted off my camera and went bug hunting. While the arthropod fauna is still meager this early in the season, the garden did yield some treasures. The photos below were all taken around 2 this afternoon.

A sawfly warms itself on a fence post.

Tetramorium caespitum, the pavement ant.

A chalcidid wasp.

The first native bee I’ve seen this year: Lasioglossum!

Dipluran hexapods (Campodeidae) are quite common under stones. Diplurans are not true insects but their own group.

Lygaeus kalmii, the small milkweed bug. Several off these were warming themselves along the sunny south face of the house.

I saw a similar sawfly today, too. I also saw a honey bee and a rove beetle. I didn’t get any pictures, though. Definitely excited that spring is coming. I just bought an enclosure for my cecropia moths and a net a net so I can do more collecting this summer.

We should be so lucky! We (in Edmonton, Alberta) are still at least a week or two away from being snow free, and I very much doubt we will have that much diversity when the time comes. I envy your chance to exercise the equipment!